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Thursday, March 10, 2016

Book Review: The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap? (Summary from Goodreads.com)

As I reached the halfway point in this book, I had a life altering realization about myself. I have a favorite genre! I really like books set in early 1800s London that have some sort of supernatural element to them. I think I first realized this in Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty and then in Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series (Clockwork Angel/Prince/Princess), but it really hit home when I was reading Gail Carriger's Finishing School series. But even then, I figured it was just a fluke. I love her writing - snarky, genteel but feminist, with humor and a little mystery thrown in. So when I started listening to The Dark Days Club (because the audiobook has a British reader, and I can listen while I do the dishes and puzzles and reorganize my bookshelves...audiobooks are great for multitasking!), I thought I'll probably like this. It sounds like fun. But guys, I really liked it. I have a favorite genre.

I think the real hook for me is these genteel women, who are trained to do little else but knit, play piano, and perhaps maintain a conversation about the weather, hike up their skirts and kick some serious bad guy butt often in heels and without tearing said skirt. I love that. I wish I could do that. It makes me want to take self-defense lessons or something, and maybe I will. Because if a lady in a corset can kick butt, then you bet a librarian in a cardigan could do some damage too!